On Tuesday 27 May 2025, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, visited Boston, USA.
In Boston, Mr. Dendias met academics and scientists, who work in the field of innovative dual-se assets. Among others, they discussed about the Hellenic defence innovation ecosystem of the “2030 Agenda” and the future of the utilisation of Artificial Intelligence in facing Security issues.
During his visit to the USA, Mr. Dendias also visited MIT “Lincoln Laboratory”, which is located at Hanscom Air Force Base. There, he attended presentations and was briefed on the manner the Laboratory operates, while being primarily funded by the US Department of Defence, in order to create new assets and find innovative solutions regarding issues indicated by the Armed Forces of the country.
The Greek Minister also participated in a discussion with the subject “Hellenic Defence Innovation”, which was held at MIT’s “Lincoln Laboratory”. During the discussion, he briefed the discussants on the latest developments on the growth of the Hellenic ecosystem and the operation of the Hellenic Centre for Defence Innovation. In addition, opinions were exchanged regarding matters of innovative Defence and Security systems.
During his visit at MIT “Lincoln Laboratory”, Mr. Dendias attended a presentation by the Director of the Laboratory, Dr. Melissa G. Choi, on the operation and activities of the Federally Funded Research and Development Centre, which is funded by the Federal Government of the USA and directed by MIT on behalf of the US Department of Defence.
The Minister of National Defence also attended presentations regarding the developments of scientific research on “NICS” (Next-Generation Incident Command System) of NATO by its chief researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Kajal Claypool, the application of new seabed cartography systems by Andrew March, and the gathering of data from radar arrays located in countries of the Alliance by Gregg Hogan.
In addition, engineer and MIT Lincoln Laboratory analyst, Alyssa Liem, presented the complete security architecture of Aerial and Missile Defence of NATO, while Francesca D’Arcangelo, a senior staff member of the Laboratory, presented “RADSIL” (Ramstein Air Defence System Integration Laboratory), namely the Aerial Defence Research and Development Centre at Ramstein Air Base.
Next, a C-UAS demonstration followed.
